Star Wars Rebels (Season 1)

Given how much I like Clone Wars and Star Wars as a whole, it's surprising that I haven't seen Star Wars Rebels yet. With Bad Batch airing with multiple episodes focused on characters from the series, it's about time I finally give it a watch.

Star Wars Rebels is a sequel series to Clone Wars about a tag team of rebels during the rise of the empire. The team is composed of Twi'lek pilot Hera, secret Jedi Kanan, brawny Lasat Zeb, artsy Mandalorian Sabine, faulty droid Chopper, and newly-joined Padawan Ezra. This season has the rebels try to gain minor victories against the empire while evading the Jedi-killing Inquisitor. On its own merits, I think this really works as a storyline for this first season. The Inquisitor is a terrifying force whenever he's on screen, and there's a surprisingly tight sense of continuity this season, with plot points from earlier episodes like the Gall Treyvus transmissions, FULCRUM, and Vizago paying off in the final few episodes. Having only 14 episodes this season definitely helped compared to other Star Wars series, the pacing is pretty much perfect this season. The final few episodes are a particular highlight, with the arrival of Tarkin signaling the point that I really started to enjoy the series. However, there's a big problem with Star Wars Rebels that's preventing me from loving it right now, and that's the fact that I just don't like most of the cast.

For starters, this season is almost entirely focused on the protagonist Ezra despite being based around an entire ensemble cast. While the backstory about his parents is interesting enough, I think he's too much of a jerk to the rest of the cast for me to really care about him. I feel like that applies to the cast as a whole, though, they're bickering and fighting so often throughout the season that it's hard for me to buy into the fact that they're the "family" they say they are. And while characters like Zeb, Hera, and Sabine have a lot of potential with their interesting pasts that are hinted at throughout the season, they barely get any screentime. I'm also not a big fan of the art style, especially in comparison to Clone Wars. While I'm all for exaggerated and cartoonish movement (I loved the art of Tartakovsky's Clone Wars), it's oddly distracting in Rebels. It's probably because of how the characters are always moving, constantly, even when they're talking to each other. I also don't love how simplistic the character designs are, especially when it comes to returning cast members like Obi-Wan and Ahsoka in the finale. On the other hand, I loved the score. Kevin Kiner returns from Clone Wars, and while the music doesn't have quite as many memorable individual pieces as that series, the background music as a whole perfectly evokes the vibe of the original trilogy. 

Despite my many gripes with the season, the final few episodes were pretty great:

Vision Of Hope: For the first time in Rebels, I feel like I genuinely get the sense that fighting the empire can feel genuinely hopeless. Gall Treyvus was a sign of hope from the start of the season, so the reveal that he's an empire plant is really effective and crushing. It's a low point for the cast this season that solidifies how alone they are.

Call To Action: Tarkin's arrival to Star Wars Rebels was such a great idea to finally establish the stakes. He's such a no-nonsense character and he makes it clear from his very first scene. Aside from his appearance, though, Call To Action has the main cast make their very first large-scale impact on the galaxy with their transmission message, along with Kanan's capture setting up for the season to end.

Fire Across The Galaxy: This was a pretty great finale. The final lightsaber fight with the Grand Inquisitor was great, most of the cast had some moment to shine, and the last few minutes were excellent. The reveal of the Rebellion widens the scale for the series, and the appearances of Ahsoka and Darth Vader left me (and I'm sure many other fans) very excited for Season 2.

Overall, the first season of Star Wars Rebels is well-paced enough and has a strong ending, but the generally unlikable and thin cast and off-putting animation prevents me from truly loving the series, at least right now.

2/5 Stars